Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can deny getting older as long as you wish.
but the evidence is ever increasing.
it hit 99F here yesterday. I had no need to go
outside, so I didn't. we spent the day listening
to the tv and putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
our apples are ripe. we are eating apple pie
and giving apples to anyone who asks.
something is eating the apples hanging in
the tree. the deer gets those half eaten ones.
she showed up mid afternoon for her treats.
she was all alone. or maybe he was. no antlers.
on Saturday, we had wave after wave of
thunderstorms until about 3pm. then it got hot..

Our deer don't let the apples hit the ground. They have cleaned out one tree and have moved onto the other. One must taste better, but I will never know now.

We got about 100 drops of rain, 4 times, about 5 minutes apart. In between each burst it dried right out. I'm starting to worry about all my trees and shrubs. Hope we get something, but we are so dry here it's gonna take a lot to fix it.

 

[Callender Girl]

I hear you. One of my new apple trees doesn't look like it's going to make it, even though I water once a week, just like my dad taught me. The other three are hanging in.

Some years, I get irritated when I have to race critters for the fruit on trees and bushes. This year, I figure they deserve anything with any moisture they can find. I watched a crow devour pears high up on the old tree yesterday, and on my way to the compost pile, I realized that while I was waiting for the aronia berries to ripen, critters were feasting. I don't have to freeze any aronias this year. Truth be told, there are probably still pints in the freezer from last year.

At 3:30 a.m., it is a blissful 65 degrees, with a predicted high of 75.No more 90s!! Sunday and Monday it looks like a fair chance of rain. In the famous words of Gene Kelly, I can see myself "Singin' In The Rain."

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Not a drop of rain here. Still humid, but a bit cooler.

 

[Callender Girl]

Quite a bit cooler here. Woke up to 51 degrees! Amazing to think that we just had four 90-plus-degree days, yesterday was in the 70's and now this. Mother Nature seems a bit confused right now.

 

[jvls1942]

we had quite a bit of rain. it rained until
1pm. the barrels are full again.
I can't believe how many apples that almost
dead tree has produced this year.
I have to remove a lot of dried branches.
the deer cannot eat the apples on the tree because
there are no branches low enough for them to reach.

 

[jvls1942]

today is starting out sunny and cool.
the crows are raising a ruckus up in the woods.
very close to the neighbor's house. I wonder how
they like it ? the crows do this every year..
today I am going to drain the 2 rain barrels and water
the apple tree.. `1oo gallons of water should make some
sort of impact ?
I want to can some apple slices, but Annie is giving apples
away as fast as they fall off of the tree.. I might have to go
out and shake some down in order to beat her to them..
surprising, the apples are not bruising too badly.
maybe because there are no lower branches for them
to bounce off of.? Or , maybe they are not over ripe .?

 

[jvls1942]

I did drain the barrels. I rigged up a hose for each.
It rained around 1am. this morning the first barrel
is 3/4 full. must have been a decent rain.
the Packer game is being delayed,

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Don't think we got much rain. The septic pumper guy broke my rain gauge a few weeks ago and I haven't bothered to replace it. I see no point now. I have a cucumber plant and a couple of tomatoes still going, but probably not much longer. We harvested our pumpkins.

 

[jvls1942]

I have often thought of getting a rain guage but
I never thought of it when I was at a store.
I'll keep it on my bucket list.
the Packers won. If they had lost, you wouldn't
hear it from me. lol
I looked up apple fritter recipes last night. they seem
pretty simple to make.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I used to make apple fritters. They were just Apple rings dipped in a batter and pan fried. I think there are different versions. Haven't made them in years. They were too delicious.